rick with more. >> reporter: this is big, arthel, because the obama administration has used the concerns of lawmakers in nebraska to put the brakes on the keystone xl oil pipeline, and now the governor says he's okay with the project moving forward after the pipeline's operator came up with a new route that bypasses a sensitive area in his state. president obama has defended his controversial decision to stop the pipeline project by saying that even nebraska's republican governor was opposed to it. now that's no longer the case. supporters of the pipeline have pointed out the number of jobs that it could potentially create. critics have said that it will pose many environmental problems, and now the president has to decide whether to give the project his okay at a time when he used part of his inaugural address yesterday to reach out to environmentalists. and we've just heard from our crack white house team, arthel, sarah courtney, one of our producers there saying that the white house spokesman was asked about this at the briefing today, jay carney referred reporters to the state depart